


Gang Activity

by Nemesis (ThetaSigma), ThetaSigma



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, case!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 06:50:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6042157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/Nemesis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThetaSigma/pseuds/ThetaSigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dead body leads to a new gang in the streets, and tension in the group as they have to take measures to get the murderer off the streets. Case!fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gang Activity

Liv ran up the street to the alleyway, running a bit late. She _had_ been at a date, although to be honest, this time the phone call had been a thoroughly welcome one. The guy had been unbelievably boring and thoroughly narcissistic, and when he _had_ turned his attention on her, finally, he had asked the dreaded question, “What do you do?” When she had told him, he leaned in, far too interestedly, and asked for details.

That’s when her phone had rang, and she had answered gratefully. “Well, off to do it now, actually,” she had said with an apologetic smile, and slipped out before the guy could answer. 

“What do we have?” she asked Elliot, already there. Elliot looked at her closely.

“We interrupt something?” he asked.

“A date,” Liv said impatiently. “Which went horribly, before you ask, and no, I’m not seeing him again. Now, what do we have?”

“Dead body, about fifteen minutes dead,” he said. “Group there,” he indicated the street, where Liv had noted a group, “heard fighting, then a shot, rushed to investigate. Saw two men run down the street; couple of them gave chase but they lost them. They’ve been waiting here for us since.”

“Good citizens,” Liv commented, squatting down to take a look at the body. “One shot to the head. I know I’m not the ME, but I’m guessing that’s our cause of death.”

She looked through the victim’s pockets for an ID. 

“Anything?” Elliot asked.

“No ID,” Liv said. She pulled out several items. “But we’ve got a wad of cash and baggies of white stuff. You wanna bet it’s coke?”

Elliot raised an eyebrow. “Strange they didn’t pick that up before leaving the scene,” he commented.

Liv indicated the direction the waiting group was in. “From what you’ve told me, they didn’t have time. Group was on them in seconds. Let’s go talk to them.”

Liv pulled out her notebook and approached the first man on the street. He was young, late teens, early 20s, in a Hudson U sweatshirt. “Sir, what can you tell us about what happened here tonight?” she asked.

“Me and bunch of buddies were out… uh…” he trailed off.

“If you were drinking, we’re not gonna bust you on that,” Liv reassured him. “Just want to know what happened here.”

“Okay,” the guy said somewhat doubtfully, but continued. “We were out… partying… and we heard this commotion. Yelling and this dude pleading and saying ‘yo, I didn’t do it’ and shit, so we figure we’re gonna step in for the underdog and we rush towards it, but as we’re running, we hear a shot. We get to the alleyway and we figure the guys must’ve heard us, ‘cause two of them are running like mad out of there. Johnny and Bull ran after them but I think the dudes gave ‘em the slip. They’re here now.”

“When was this?” Liv asked, writing everything down. 

“About 15, 20 minutes ago? Clock had just struck. Yeah, about then.”

“Can you describe these men?”

“Uh, about my height --” he was about six feet “—one was pretty lean, the other kinda stockier. Uh, black, I think, but maybe Hispanic? I’m not so good with that,” he said apologetically, “and it was pretty dark. They were wearing t-shirts and jeans and a jacket.”

“Great, thank you. Although I’d caution next time _not_ running after someone with a gun.”

Liv repeated the interview with maybe seven other college guys, who essentially told the same story. One black man, one Latino had fled the scene. One shot fired – which fit what they had seen at the crime scene – and two of their guys had given chase. Those guys had been with the group up until the commotion.

Liv thanked the last member of the group and went to talk to Elliot to compare notes. His set of interviews had yielded the same results. They walked back to the crime scene to find CSU and Warner already there.

“One shot to the head,” Warner greeted them. “Time of death less than an hour ago, based on body temp, this body’s still warm.”

“Fits what all those college kids told us,” Elliot said. “Make sure to run a tox screen on him; he had a bunch of cocaine on him.”

Warner nodded. “I do that anyway, Detective, but thanks for the heads-up.”

*** 

They were at Warner’s office the next morning.

“Your guy was high as a kite,” Warner said, stripping off her gloves. She showed them the lab reports.

Elliot whistled at the number. “Goddamn,” he said.

“You get anything else?” Liv asked.

“He’s been using for a while,” Warner said. “Took a sample of his hair, that gives us length of usage. He’s got long enough hair that we can tell that he’s been definitely using for months.” She showed them a slide of hair. Liv and Elliot looked on interestedly; it was pretty meaningless to them, but Warner always showed them how to read it, which she did now.

“Plus, I’d say he was in a gang of some kind,” she added, washing her hands. She dried her hands and directed them over to the body, pulling the linen up to show a tattoo.

“What’s that say?” Liv asked, bending over to peer at the tattoo.

“Looks like… B.O.G.? Do you know of a gang like that?” Elliot asked Liv.

Liv shook her head. “Any way of ID-ing him?”

Warner led them over to the computer. “Yes, I fingerprinted him. You’re looking at Sergei Flores.”

They leaned over the computer to see his record. “Son of a bitch, he’s only 16,” Elliot said angrily.

“One arrest for possession, one for possession with intent to distribute,” Liv marked down. “Thanks, Melinda, you’ve been very helpful.”

Warner nodded and covered the body again.

*** 

“We thinking this is a drug deal gone wrong?” Cragen asked when Liv and Elliot entered the squadroom. They had a picture of the victim up on the board, and he was brandishing a marker to write down any ideas.

“Could be,” Liv said, “But it doesn’t fit with what those college boys were saying he said – ‘I didn’t do it’.”

“Warner also found a tattoo – says B.O.G. on it. Figure it’s a gang, but I haven’t heard of that one.”

“Fin?” Cragen asked, turning to Fin.

Fin shook his head. “If that’s a drug dealing gang, it’s a new one,” he said. “I can go over to Narcotics, see if they know anything.”

John’s face got grim – he had a feeling Fin was going to be talking to Sandoval again, and he didn’t like it – but he kept his peace.

“Okay, so let’s work it as a gang killing for now,” Cragen said, writing the initials B.O.G. under the victim’s picture. “Fin, head over to Narcotics and see what you can find out. Liv, Elliot, you two take notification and try to piece together Flores’ movements.”

“And what do you want me to do, Captain?” John asked as the others left.

“Go over to CSU and see if they have any evidence for us,” Cragen ordered.

*** 

“You keep turning up like a bad fucking penny,” Fin’s old Captain said.

“Need some information,” Fin replied. “’Bout a gang, or so we figure. Got a stiff with the letters ‘B.O.G.’ tattooed on him. Those mean anything to you?”

The Captain shrugged. “You can talk to Sandoval. Hell, if it’s drugs again, you can have him for a bit.”

Fin sighed. John wasn’t going to like this at all – John held a deep grudge against Sandoval ever since the explosion – but Sandoval was the only one Fin trusted in Narcotics right now.

“He still a rookie?” Fin asked.

“Nah, that Connors case got him his gold shield. You want him or not?”

“Fine, we’ll take him,” Fin said, figuring he’d smooth it out with John later.

“Yo, Sandoval! Your old buddy’s here!”

Sandoval popped into view and greeted Fin hesitantly. “What can I do for you?”

“We need some information,” Fin said, walking away from his old Captain.

“I’m guessing that partner of yours doesn’t know you’re here,” Sandoval said, remembering Munch.

“That ain’t important,” Fin said. “Listen, do the letters ‘B.O.G.’ mean anything to you?”

Sandoval nodded and said, “Figure I’m with you guys for a bit.”

*** 

He explained in the squad room. “‘B.O.G.’ stands for Bend Over Gang. Stupid name, but they seem to like it. A bunch of dealers got pissed ‘cause they stayed lowest on the totem pole ‘cause they were gay – that’s if they weren’t beaten or raped. Bunch of them got out, figured they’d start their own gang, a gay drug dealers gang.”

Elliot scoffed. “Now I’ve heard everything: a PC-drug dealing gang.”

Sandoval ignored him. “They’ve been taking over territory from one of the gangs we busted up badly last fall,” he said.

“Nature abhors a vacuum,” John said, trying his hardest not to stare daggers at Sandoval.

“Are you thinking it was them or a rival gang?” Sandoval asked.

“Well, we found coke and cash on him,” Liv said, “but probably because the shooter didn’t have time to grab it. But he was _high as fuck_ when he died. We’re thinking he was skimming product off the top.”

“What did you find out about Flores’ movements?” Cragen asked.

Elliot flipped through his notebook. “Went to school – actually made it to all of his classes, which, according to his principal, was rare – went to his job at some diner; we’re figuring that’s where he sold coke out of – then was heading home. He got off shift 15 minutes before the shooting.”

“Anybody could’ve watched him and known when his shift ended,” Fin said. 

Cragen nodded. “Okay, it’s getting late, we can get back to this in the morning,” he said. “Sandoval, Fin, my office.”

Sandoval shot a look at Fin, who shrugged. John raised an eyebrow; he was surprised to be left out, but he didn’t say anything.

Cragen was waiting for them already when they entered. “Listen, I’m thinking that this case is going to need some undercover work,” he said. “How do you two feel about going undercover in the B.O.G.?”

Fin hesitated. He was good at undercover and actually liked it, but John didn’t like him pairing with just Sandoval. But John would get made as a cop within seconds, so that was out. It was Sandoval or nobody.

“I’m game,” Fin said finally, with a last wish that he could at least talk to John first. But Cragen didn’t seem to be in a waiting mood.

Sandoval nodded. “We’ve been wanting to take them down for a while now, but there’s always been bigger fish to fry,” he said.

“I’ll let you two figure out your backstory,” Cragen said with an enigmatic smile, then opened the door for them.

“Backstory?” Sandoval asked, puzzled. “I wouldn’t think we need an elaborate one. Drug dealers aren’t usually picky.”

“Sandoval,” Fin said wearily. “We’re _gay_ drug dealers, and I’m guessing we’re meant to be partners.”

It was clear the thought hadn’t occurred to Sandoval, and Fin charitably gave him an out. “You wanna go back, tell the Captain you’re not up for this?” he asked. He didn’t mind doing this, undercover was all about being someone else. He’d have to tell John of course, who’d probably have much less charitable thoughts about it, but he hoped John would trust him not to cheat.

Sandoval squared his shoulders and shook his head. “Nah, man, we’re doing this.” 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Fin said. “I’m heading home, gonna get ready.”

*** 

“Let me get this straight,” John said. “You’re partnering with that rookie idiot Sandoval _and_ going undercover together as gay drug dealing boyfriends to get into the gang?”

“Yeah, sounds like you got it all,” Fin said, taking a long drink from his beer.

John’s face told Fin that he was _not_ in the mood for jokes. Fin sighed and wrapped his arms around John. “Hon, Cragen wants us to do undercover work. You know it’s gotta be me and Sandoval, and we gotta pretend ‘cause of the nature of the gang. It won’t mean a thing; not when I’ve got you waiting at home.”

“I don’t trust that rookie idiot,” John said, almost petulantly.

“He’s not a rookie anymore,” Fin said. “Babe, please, we gotta do this. I wanted to tell you first, but there was no way I could, not without telling Cragen in front of Sandoval, ‘sure I’ll pretend to be his boyfriend undercover but let me check real quick with my actual boyfriend’.”

John smiled at that. “You be careful. Those guys are lunatics and I still…”

“Don’t trust that rookie idiot, I know,” Fin finished. “But this is the only way we’re gonna find out which gang killed that teen.”

*** 

John stormed into the Captain’s office, and Cragen sighed. He had known this would be coming the second he suggested putting Fin and Sandoval undercover, together, never mind the _nature_ of the gang.

“John,” Cragen said. “You know why I had to do it. And you know Sandoval isn’t a total idiot.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” John said sarcastically. “Not a _total_ idiot. You’re asking me to trust my boyfriend’s life with someone you characterize as not a _total_ idiot. Why not paint a giant target on him while you’re at it?”

“John!” Cragen said sharply. “I’m going to forget that you said that, and this conversation is over. It had to be done, and those two were the only men for the job. You have to accept that.” His face, which was sterner than John had seen it before, told John that he was in no mood to argue about it.

*** 

Their first meet had gone well, all things considered. Fin had learned long ago how to edge onto someone’s territory to get absorbed into the gang, _and_ to take the resulting initiation beat-up. He was sporting a black eye, but they were meeting again later that afternoon with one of the top men in the gang – apparently the coke they were selling had interested the gang.

Sandoval was antsy sitting on the picnic table bench, waiting for the gang member to show up.

Fin was reading the newspaper coolly, looking at the sports scores. He didn’t always see them; John cared so little about sports that he routinely tossed it aside and Fin had a hell of a time finding it again, so he enjoyed catching up on his teams. “Calm _down_ ,” he hissed at Sandoval. “And stop acting like I got the plague, you’re supposed to be my boyfriend.”

Sandoval edged slightly closer to Fin. He knew at some point they have to actually touch casually – they’d agreed they were _not_ the kind of couple to kiss in public – but while he was not homophobic and had been intellectually okay with the whole thing, the reality of it closing in on him made him tense up. Luckily, right now, Fin seemed about as inclined to touch him as he was to touch Fin.

A shadow fell over Fin’s newspaper, and Fin closed it calmly. A big Hispanic guy sat down across from them and looked at them critically. “You must be those new guys,” he said. “Trying to join?”

“Yeah, man,” Fin said. “Old gang didn’t… approve, if you catch my drift.”

The big guy laughed. “There ain’t no drift-catching here, we’re totally out about it. I’m Jose.”

“Luke,” Fin said, then pointed to Sandoval, “and my partner, Rafi.”

Jose raised an eyebrow at Fin’s use of the term ‘partner’. “I’m guessing you two ain’t just street partners,” he said with a lascivious grin. “You got yourself a cutie there, Luke.”

Fin squeezed Sandoval’s shoulder, willing him not to tense up, and said, “I know. Shall we talk business?”

*** 

They were in some total dump of an apartment, part of their cover story and cover life. Sandoval looked around and turned to Fin. “Fin,” he said. “This place’s got _one_ bedroom and worse, _one bed!_ ”

Fin shrugged. “I ain’t surprised. Anyone drops by, it’d be tough to explain why we got two beds.”

Sandoval mimed snapping Fin’s neck in frustration. “Look, I know that we gotta keep up the cover, but hell, _sleeping_ together?”

Fin snorted, and Sandoval glared at him. “You know what I mean, Fin!”

“It’s a decent sized bed, Sandoval,” Fin said. “I’m sure we’ll manage.”

“Well, I’m glad of that! You know, maybe _you’re_ used to sleeping with another man, but somehow I’m not,” Sandoval snapped. He regretted the words as soon as he said them; he hadn’t _ever_ mentioned he knew about Munch and Fin and was planning on never mentioning it.

“Come again?” Fin asked quietly. 

Sandoval swallowed hard. “I said, you’re used to sleeping with another man.” He hesitated, then explained, figuring he couldn’t dig himself in any deeper, “I know about you and Munch.”

“Listen,” Fin said, very quietly. “I’m used to sleeping next to _him_. You ain’t a thing like him, and I sure as fuck ain’t looking forward to sleeping next to _you_ , you got that? Fuck, being with him doesn’t mean I want to be with other men, so put that thought out of your head right now!”

Sandoval nodded shamefully. Fin tossed him a disgusted look and went to change for bed.

*** 

John missed Fin. They rarely spent the night apart. John was trying to remember the last time they had slept apart and was drawing a blank. Of course, a case sometimes had them work such long hours that they only caught a nap in the crib, but he didn’t count that since both of them were there, working on the case together.

John had the sneaking suspicion the last time they spent the full night completely apart like this was back before they shared an apartment. He was lying in their bed, Fin’s pillow clutched in his arms. It was an absolutely inadequate substitution for Fin, but it still smelled like him and would have to do until Fin came home.

*** 

It turned out that Jose was the incredibly chatty type. He told them freely about their drug runners and street corner dealers, eager to show off how well this gang had pulled itself together. Flores had probably been a street corner dealer, Fin figured; he was the right age for it and certainly had enough cash and coke on him.

After several days of listening to Jose on every topic imaginable – which were _many_ – Fin asked casually, “Yo, man, heard some kid got bumped off not too far from here. Thought you said these streets were safe for us.”

“Gotta send a message that you can’t take product,” Jose said immediately. “Kid thought he could get away with taking some off the top but we disabused him of that notion right away and now no one’s gonna try that move again, well are they? No, they know better, they know it’s gonna happen to them too, and then they stay in line. You need to make an example sometimes, you know?”

Fin nodded sagely. “He was stealing from you?”

“Yo, he was taking more coke than he was selling! Tried to straighten him out, ‘cause the customers liked him – hell, junkies always like another junkie – but that kid was in way too deep. But once the profits started drying up on his street, well, hell, he had to go, y’know?” Jose bit into his hot dog. “Yo, man, you safe here though. You and that cutie of yours. He’s the silent type, though, ain’t he?”

Fin reflected that next to this chatterbox, _both_ of them were the ‘silent type’. “You have to make a lot of examples?”

“Nah, that kid was only the third,” Jose said, finishing off his hot dog. “We ain’t had much problems around here, but we keep a pretty tight control on all of them. But this gang knows you ain’t got anywhere else to go that’ll accept you, so they all loyal to the core, y’know?”

Sandoval, who had his arm uncomfortably around Fin, asked, “Wow. What happened with the others?”

“Same type of thing, y’know. Kids getting clever when they should know their place. Ah well, other gang I was in, they had that problem all the time, we don’t get that shit much here. Couple examples, remind them why we’re a good choice for them, and hell, they stay loyal, y’know.”

Fin looked up and saw Elliot and Liv coming, clearly having heard the conversation through the wire. 

“What say we take a ride?” Elliot asked, flashing his badge.

Chatty Jose took a long look at Fin. “Yo, you set me up! What are you, a narc?”

“Yo, I don’t know shit about this,” Fin said, unwilling to blow his cover just yet. “Fuck if I know what they want!”

“I ain’t gonna forget!” Jose screamed as Elliot cuffed him. “I’m gonna make an example of you too, you bastard!”

“Did I just hear him threaten someone?” Elliot asked, “accidentally” banging Jose’s head on the door of the car. “Whoops, new car, forgot where the door is, sorry about that,” he said insincerely.

“Fuck you,” Jose said. “You fucking nasty pig, you did that on purpose!”

“Ehh, try to prove it,” Elliot said cheerfully.

*** 

Fin entered the interview room where Jose was being kept. “You’re done, punk,” he said, pulling up a chair. “See, we got the confession on tape.”

“Then what do you want with me?” Jose snarled. 

“You said you had to make _three_ examples,” Fin said. “We only found one. What about the other two?”

Jose laughed. “You idiots probably just thought they were junkies. How you gonna find them?” he taunted. 

“You know,” Sandoval said, happy to be out of his role, “It doesn’t matter if we do. You confessed to all three. That’s gonna look great in front of a jury.”

“Yo, I didn’t shoot anyone and you can’t prove I did,” Jose said. “So they’re dead, you can’t prove it was me who fired the shot.”

“I got fifteen witnesses,” Fin said. “How much do you want to be at least _one_ of them remembers you? Maybe one of the two who chased you for a block.”

“Anyway,” Sandoval continued. “If you ordered the hit, that’s still murder. You’re going down. Your little gang’s done. Narcotics is arresting the lot of them on possession and distribution charges now. You can help yourself if you tell us who the second man was.”

“Fuck you, we’re loyal. I ain’t telling you _shit_.”

The door opened and Langan entered. “Detectives, I’ll take a moment alone with my client now.”

“You can meet him at arraignment,” Novak said, also entering. “Sorry I’m late to the party. He’s being booked; we’re done with him.”

She exited the room while a uni took Jose. She turned to the detectives. “Guys, what about the second man? Did Jose give him up?”

Fin shook his head. “We’re figuring it’s one of the gang we’re arresting right now. We’ll show their pictures to the college kids, see if they can ID anyone.”

*** 

Fin was eager to get back to _his_ apartment, not that dump job he’d been forced to stay in while undercover. It had been hard to pretend Sandoval was his boyfriend – both of them had been incredibly reluctant to so much as touch the other, and John had constantly been on Fin’s mind.

He opened the door and saw John there. 

“You are a sight for sore eyes,” Fin said with feeling, hugging John close and kissing him. 

“You and Sandoval break up?” John asked.

“Not this again,” Fin groaned. “I thought you weren’t jealous.”

“I’m not,” John said. “But you belong _here_ , not with some good-looking young detective barely out of short pants.”

“I’m not gonna argue with that,” Fin said, curling into John. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”

John kissed him passionately. “Me too. We haven’t been apart like this since we moved into this apartment,” he said.

Fin shook his head. “Figures you’d know that.” 

“One of us has to pay attention to these dates.”

“So we can totally ignore them when they come up on the calendar?” 

John hooked a finger in Fin’s necklace and pulled him in for a kiss. “Exactly,” he purred.

*** 

Liv and Elliot had searched Jose’s apartment and come up with a gun, with Jose’s prints on it, that matched the gun used to shoot Flores. The college group ID-ed him, too, in a lineup, all fifteen of them separately, and Langan turned to Novak as the last witness exited the lineup room.

“Let’s talk about a deal,” he said.

“Why?” Novak asked. “I’ve got your client dead to rights on shooting a 16-year-old, plus his confession he shot two others.”

“You don’t have a body or names on the two others, how are you going to indict for those?” Langan asked practically. “What if he gives you the other member?”

Novak shook her head. “His prints on the gun, no other prints, his gun, his confession, _fifteen_ IDs…. He’s looking at Murder 1. And I’ve got fifteen witnesses who’ll pick out the other member. Maybe that one will testify against your client, since _he_ didn’t do the shooting.”

“Man 1 and we give you the names of the other 2 boys.”

“Incriminating your client further? No thanks,” Novak said. “I want him off the streets for good.”

*** 

“Guilty on murdering Flores,” Novak said happily as she entered the squad room. 

“What about the other two?” Liv asked.

“Couldn’t even get an indictment,” Novak said. “No names, no bodies, just an off-hand remark from the drug dealer.”

Liv sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Novak asked.

“I’m just thinking. Sandoval said this gang started up there ‘cause they busted up a gang last fall. I’m just wondering what gang will move in there next,” she said, looking at the map. “More dead bodies, more users, more coke… Cycle never ends, does it?”

“No, but it’s still worth going on,” Novak answered. “For the little moments.” She nudged Liv and pointed to John and Fin, who were tossing a rubber band ball back and forth. Fin kept aiming for John’s head, to John’s loud protests that it wasn’t fair.

“They couldn’t be more obvious if they tried, sometimes,” Liv laughed. 

Novak squeezed Liv’s arm and said, “And that’s why we keep going.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments are love <3


End file.
